


Newspapers Don’t Tell Stories Like These

by OWritingTrashO



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Also Kind Of A Human/College AU, F/M, superhero au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-08
Updated: 2018-01-27
Packaged: 2019-03-02 02:05:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,355
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13308102
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OWritingTrashO/pseuds/OWritingTrashO
Summary: Alice Kirkland lived in two different worlds. One as an average university student with just enough friends and an adorably dorky boyfriend. The other as one of the city’s superheroes, Britannia. Those two worlds wouldn’t ever interact. Ever.





	1. Lightning’ll Catch You In The Dark

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guess what this is a USxFem!UK superhero AU. Original superhero names I know. These were also the first fight scenes I’ve written and I think they’re pretty good so yeah, enjoy.
> 
> Disclaimer: I don’t own Hetalia.

“Hiya, Brit, fancy meeting you here, huh?” Alice jumped and nearly slipped off the roof’s ledge. She could’ve died, Alice turned around with a glare.

“Haven’t I told you to stop calling me that?” The blond retorted. The American hero just smiled, he was leaning against the door, dressed in his uniform. Of course, Alice had never seen him in anything else. No one had.

His suit was mostly blue, there was a red and white star design on his chest that she knew had become some sort of logo for him that the people always used. He was tall and his somewhat tight suit showed off his muscles, not that she had noticed, she was taken after all. To keep his identity a secret he wore a blue pair of goggles that resembled WW2 flight goggles. Sometimes Alice found herself wondering what was under that suit, other than the golden hair and tan skin she could already see.

“What else am I supposed to call you?” He asked, pushing away from the wall and walking closer to her. He leaned against the ledge where she sat and looked up at her. “Britannia is kinda a mouthful.”

“And Columbia isn’t?” Alice returned. He gave her a half smile but gave no answer.

Large buildings and skyscrapers stretched for miles in every direction. The stars twinkled and the lights flickered. Every once in awhile, one would blink out. There was the sound of late night traffic and the few late night wanderers. Alice looked up toward the sky. It was a clear night with stars dotting the sky and the moon smiling in the corner as a crescent. Her boyfriend, Alfred, loved space. He was even majoring in astronomy. No doubt he had looked upon the stars multiple times tonight.

“It’s been pretty quiet tonight.” Columbia said, he glanced up at the stars for a second. “Guess crime decided to take a night off.”

“That makes our job easier.” Alice added. They weren’t officially a duo or anything, but they served as Boston’s only two vigilantes so they often met fighting the same enemies. It was just a sorry coincidence, she did not look forward to it anyway. She was perfectly fine fighting alone.

“Yep.” He agreed. The breeze ruffled her bangs and the few pieces of her hair that escaped her bun. It was much easier to fight when she didn’t have hair in her face.

The British hero stole a glance at him. There was still a feeling of mystery he so easily stole. Maybe she got a rush when she saw those goggles slip or when he talked like they were friends. There was satisfaction in knowing she knew Columbia, she had fought alongside him. They were almost friends. She was happy with that.

Suddenly the night city sounds were interrupted by loud sirens. They both peeked over the ledge and saw a police car race by, lighting up the alleyway with artificial red and blue. While the police did what they could, this city would be overrun if she and Columbia didn’t fight crime.

“That didn’t last long.” Columbia commented, he turned back to her with a grin. “I guess I’ll see you there.” The other superhero then jumped off the side of the building. Alice scoffed, not caring to glance over and see him hit the ground, and began to follow the car.

The first time she had witnessed him do that she had been shocked, but his powers easily allowed him to pull stunts like that, even if it still made her worried, just for a second. From what Alice had figured out, Columbia was telekinetic. He could move things around with his mind, including himself, which he did when he dramatically fell off buildings like that.

Alice was pyrokinetic, which also made her invincible to fire. Although her clothes often weren’t, which was why she had several suits at home, ready to switch out if she burns through one of them. Some of her outfit was nonflammable, like her gloves, belt, and boots, but her black jeans and sweatshirt-like shirt wasn’t.

The car was easily to follow, as nearly all the police cars in the area began to swarm to the same area. A bank, on the corner of two unexciting streets, with a collection of cars flashing their lights parked haphazardly in the front. Alice slipped through a back door, melting the metal lock easily.

The bank’s back was empty as expected. The lights were flickering as she walked carefully through the halls. Strange, as she thought this was a new building, it shouldn’t have electrical problems.

The police had yet to storm the building yet, making it much easier for her. Then she didn’t have to worry about whether she was burning a good guy or a bad guy. There was no doubt they were all huddled up behind their cars with their guns drawn trying to create some perfect plan. Bureaucracy at its finest.

Alice continued through nearly symmetric halls for a few minutes, looking for the action. She finally heard voices and gunshots when someone suddenly grabbed her wrist. Alice gasped and her hand caught fire as she turned to see Columbia in the dark. He held a finger to his lips as Alice gave him a confused look and doused her fire.

They were in a hall looking in large room where there was a half open vault. Columbia suddenly pulled her back toward him in the shadows, stopping her from entering the room. She was about to tell him that she could act on her accord, thank you very much, but a voice interrupted their silent argument.

“Please, I’ve got a daughter.” A man whimpered, but the room echoed back his plea. Alice had heard that tone before. That was a man begging for his life.

“Perhaps you should have thought of that before.” A woman returned. Sickly sweet, her voice echoed. The emergency lights flickered and Alice saw a body drop behind the vault’s door.

Alice took note of the rest of the room and saw another few bodies, slumped and slouching against walls with discarded guns and blisters and burns. Columbia was still holding her, a strong arm around her, keeping her back pressed against his chest. His warmth, this hold, it somehow seemed familiar, in a way she couldn’t tell.

There was the clicking of heels walking across the floor. A woman walked out behind the vault’s door. She didn’t hold any money or gold. She was there for something else.

She was dressed in a full white leather suit and tall white heels. The color made her pale blond hair and light skin seem more white as well. Her eyes were almost purple behind a mask, watching the shadows purposely. They landed on the corridor where she and Columbia stood. She paused, crossing her arms over her chest.

In a second, a bolt of lightning sprang from her heels. It burst toward her and Columbia. They both dove away in opposite directions from their original spot as the lightning collided with where they had stood moments ago, creating a dark black burn in the tiles.

“I was wondering if you two would ever show.” She said, flipping a long strand of hair over her shoulder.

Alice stood and clinched her fists, watching the woman carefully. She glanced over and met eyes with Columbia. He had regained his footing and was ready for a fight as well. “Who are you?” He exclaimed.

“Electra. Do you always show up so late? Those men would’ve been gone away if I hadn’t gotten in the way.”

“So you’re a new vigilante?” Columbia asked innocently.

Electra hummed, pausing in fake thought. “No, I don’t think so. I’m here to kill you two.” Without hesitating, another bolt of lightning burst from her fingertips toward Columbia’s head. The lights flickered more.

“Columbia!” Alice exclaimed. The floor underneath Electra’s heels exploded into flames. The villain jumped out of the way quickly as the electricity collided with the wall. Alice saw Columbia standing there, surprised, but quite okay. He had somehow directed the lightning into the wall left of him. She didn’t know he could do that.

Electra gritted her teeth. She clearly thought this would be easier. Alice felt a burst of pride at her and Columbia’s skills even though nothing had really happened yet. The villain threw another few bursts of lightning in her and Columbia’s general directions.

Alice yelled as she dove out of the way of the electricity. A wall of fire rose in front of her, her powers subconsciously defending her. She ducked behind her shield. She glanced toward the other hero but another wave of electricity surprised her and she barely dodged it. She couldn’t afford to pay extra attention to Columbia in this fight.

Electra had seemed to focus on Columbia for the time being. He was forcing all of her bolts of electricity away from him, clinching his fists as he threw another bolt into the nearest wall with a force none of them could see. He was on the defensive, backing up as Electra neared him. Alice tossed a few fire balls toward the white woman. Electra let out a scream of frustration as bursts of electricity came up from the ground and crashed with Alice’s fire. It showered the room with sparks and ash.

The villain in her irritation had turned toward Alice and sent a large bolt of electricity straight toward her. Alice dropped and slid underneath the lightning while Columbia took advantage of her distraction. He threw a punch, using his powers to make the hit stronger and his fist collided with her face.

It knocked Electra to her knees and Columbia hesitated. He was too nice and she took the split second he gave her. She lunched, falling over and away from him toward where Alice stood. Instead of attacking, she sprinted past her into the vault they had forgotten was open.

“Follow her!” Columbia exclaimed, rushing toward Alice. “She can’t get out that way!”

In her split second Alice thought it was quite stupid of her to run in there. The inside of the vault was a mess, disrupted by the robbers and Electra. The walls were lined with steel safe boxes and pallets of money and coins littered the room. Electra faced away from them, staring at the furthest wall of boxes and breathing heavily.

“There’s no running from here!” Columbia shouted at Alice’s side. The white woman turned to face them. Alice paled at her appearance, scarlet blood dripping from her bruising nose and tarnishing her white suit.

Electra smiled. Her teeth turned red from the fresh blood. “But you’re wrong.”

Steel walls.

“Columbia, duck!” Alice yelled, running toward him. They both fell together behind a pallet of money as electricity burst from Electra in every direction and bounced off the walls in quick flashes of light.

He clutched her to his chest and Alice squeezed her eyes shut, hearing the lightning ricochet off the walls. It all sounded so close, she could swear that a bolt grazed her because she could feel the heat, but eventually the electricity ceased. They were seemingly untouched, Columbia must have defended them.

“You okay?” Columbia breathed, they both breathed heavily with adrenaline and sweat lingering from their fight. Alice pushed herself up, suddenly realizing how incredibly close she was to the American hero. She couldn’t imagine what Alfred would say if he knew.

“Yeah. Yes. I’m fine.” Alice looked around the room, somehow still buzzing. Static lingered in the room, making her hair frizz and shocking her fingertips as she stood up. “She’s gone.”

“We better get outta here before the police finally storm the place.” Columbia said. They slipped through the building to the back, just as the officers finally burst in shouting freeze to dead bodies.

The two heroes walked the streets quietly, recovering in silence. “Who was she?” The American hero finally asked. Alice should be getting home soon, she had a morning class tomorrow.

“I don’t know. I’ve never even heard of anyone with electric abilities.” Alice answered, sighing. There were many vigilantes throughout the world. When she had still lived in England and had been the vigilante of London, she had even met some of the other European heroes.

Germania was a German vigilante of Berlin with super strength. There was General Winter, a Russian hero who mostly stayed to himself in Moscow, he had abilities to control and create ice and snow. Rose was a Frenchman who prowled Paris and possessed powers to grow things. Lillie was a girl of Lichtenstein who wasn’t exactly a hero, but had powers to find any person on Earth. She knew the identity, the ins and outs of every human being.

Despite all them, Alice had never known an Electra.

“Well, keep your eyes open. I’m sure we’ll see her again.” He said, then offered a smile. “Don’t let her scare you.”

“Who said she did?” Alice scoffed. “You look more shaken up than I do.”

Which was a lie. Alice was terrified. She wasn’t scared of the common crime she usually stopped. Those robbers would’ve been a piece of cake. Electra was something completely different. She had never had to fight a super villain on her own.

Columbia laughed. “See ‘ya around, Britannia.”

Then again, she wasn’t alone.


	2. Too Many Rumors’ll Twist Your Thoughts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I don’t own Hetalia.

Alice had just perfected her second pigtail when the door buzzed. The blond walked to the door and opened it to see her boyfriend beaming at her. 

“Mornin’!” He exclaimed with all that energy he never seemed to lose. He held a cup in each hand as she invited him in. Alfred usually met her at her apartment on the way to class because hers was closer to campus. “I got you that super sugary tea you like, and coffee for me.”

Alice took the smaller cup from him and took a sip. “Thanks. I’m almost ready, just let me grab my bag.” The Brit grabbed her old fading red book sack and her phone from her bedroom. When she returned to the living room, Alfred was watching the TV chat away about last night.

The media seemed obsessed with Electra. She was trending along with Britannia and Columbia on nearly every social media Alice had seen. Everyone was trying to connect her to other vigilantes, old super villains that had been defeated. So far, Alice hadn’t heard anything true from the news stations, it was all still speculation.

Of course, Alice wanted to know who she was too, after all that had happened last night, but she had more important matters to take care of at the moment.

Alfred offered to carry her booksack with his, a galaxy printed one, but she has refused. They drank their respective drinks and held hands on the walk to campus, chatting about their weekends. 

Alfred was the sweetest, cutest, more normal guy Alice had ever met. He grew up in Virginia with his younger sister but moved to Boston, where they were now, to go to MIT. He was incredibly dorky, obsessed with the fake superheroes and Star Wars and every other science fiction franchise despite just turning twenty-one in July. He was also incredibly smart, majoring in Astronomy and minoring in Physics because the stars fascinated him. 

They had been dating for just about a year and a half, meeting one of the first weeks of freshmen year in an undergrad class. He had managed to ask her out to coffee, although she didn’t like coffee and didn’t date much in high school, she agreed. Alice was quite glad she did, because Alfred was amazing. He was just a little too loud and talkative and he liked to eat a lot, but had a pretty good body. He had the classic heart of gold and believed in doing the right thing and all that.

Alice found that he was the main thing she was fighting for in the dark. She didn’t give a damn about the good of the world, the world hadn’t ever done anything for her. Half the population were terrible people anyway. She didn’t care about doing the right thing or have a natural duty to serve. She fought for those few people she loved and the few good people she found left in this dog-eat-dog world. She would fight for the people like Alfred, who deserved another day where they didn’t have to worry about people like Electra.

“But did you see the sky last night? It was so clear, I wish I could’ve stargazed all night.” Alfred continued, swinging their hands as they walked up to the hall where they had their first class. 

Alice’s father had known a few people at MIT, so he managed to make it easier for her to get a scholarship. She was majoring in Literature, as it was one of the few things she was good at. That and setting things on fire.

“Why didn’t you?” Alice asked, glancing up at him. He was a good half a foot taller than her with those sky colored eyes and glasses that were only cute on him. Alice wore glasses as well, had since she was ten. She did need them, but she found they helped to distinguish her from Britannia as well. When she was fighting as Britannia, she simply wore contacts. 

“Oh-“ He hesitated. “I had to go out, got busy, was too tired to.”

“You weren’t near that Electra mess, were you?” Alice really hoped he wasn’t, she couldn’t bare him getting hurt in one of those fights. Or worse, connecting Alice and Britannia. 

She knew she couldn’t keep it a secret forever, especially if they’d ever have a future together, but she didn’t want to involve him yet. He didn’t need to get involved in all that anyway. Alfred was normal, Alfred was safe. Alfred didn’t belong with Britannia and Electra and Columbia.

“No. No, my apartment’s not even over there, you know.” The American reassured her. They walked into the classroom and found four empty seats. 

Along with Alfred, Alice had two other friends. Somehow, with all their different majors, they had made it into a few of the same undergrad and elective classes.

One was Alfred’s sister, Madeline but just Maddie. She was a year younger than Alfred, but the way their birthdays fell she was in the same school year as him. She also attended MIT, studying French and Medicine. She was nice and soft spoken, but could easily be sarcastic and petty, especially with Alfred. They seem to have a good connection, plenty of inside jokes and stories. 

All Alice had with her brother was a few memories of their red hair going up in flames. Maybe that’s why Maddie and Alfred got along more, he didn’t set her on fire. Alice’s pyrokinetics had negatively effected some relationships throughout her life.

The other friend was Maddie’s boyfriend, closer to Alice and Alfred’s age. Gilbert was an abroad student from Germany, studying Music. They had just recently moved into Gilbert’s apartment together as well, having been dating for a while longer than her and Alfred. Gilbert was a bit more obnoxious and somewhat arrogant, but his personality complimented Maddie’s well. 

Gilbert also had an obsession with Britannia and Columbia. Alice dared to call him their biggest fan. They were basically his heroes. Of course, he had no idea that she was Britannia, so it was funny to hear all his speculations and theories about their identities and more. She nearly wanted to show up at his apartment one night dressed as Britannia just to screw with him. Maybe she could get Columbia to do it with her. 

“But my mother called me at four am on Saturday just to have a chat, I have to keep reminding her about time zones.” Alfred snickered at her story. 

“Well my mom keeps telling me you’ve gotta come drive down with me at Christmas. She already met Gilbert last year and she keeps bugging me about you.” The American said.

“If I can get out of flying home, it’s a deal. I’d definitely give up a week of dealing with my family to be with you.” Alice answered. 

“Maddie keeps telling her you’re not real.” He added and Alice laughed. 

“I’d believe her.”

“Hey!”

“Hey!” They both jumped as something was slammed down on their combined desk. A pale hand moved, showing the newspaper sitting on the desk. Gilbert stood over it with a look of pure excitement. Alice noticed Madeline standing behind him holding a cup of coffee and a blank face. “Did you guys see this?!”

“Someone _please _tell him to shut up.” Maddie begged behind him. Alfred sent a sympathetic look toward his sister as she sat on his left.__

__Alfred and Alice both looked at the front of the newspaper. ‘ _NEW SUPERVILLAIN IN BOSTON? _’, it screamed in large black letters.___ _

____“How couldn’t we have, it’s all over the news?” Alice answered, skimming the article._ _ _ _

____“This is so crazy, I mean, two superheroes and now we’ve got a supervillain too. It’s so freakin’ awesome.” Gilbert grinned._ _ _ _

____“You know, most people aren’t happy when there’s a new crazy evil villain with superpowers in your city.” Alfred reminded._ _ _ _

____The albino waved him off. “She’s not attacking normal people, duh. We’re all fine.”_ _ _ _

____Alice looked up finally with a puzzled expression. “What do you mean?”_ _ _ _

____“Well, you gotta look at the evidence, Allie.”_ _ _ _

____“Don’t call me that.”_ _ _ _

____“We’ve only see this girl once ever. It was a bank robbery, where the five guys were robbing the bank, she broke in, killed them, then proceeded to only go after Britannia and Columbia. No big public scene. No mass murder or genocide or any shit like that. She obviously wanted Britannia and Columbia’s full attention and she got it.” Gilbert explained. Alice frowned, she hadn’t thought about any of that yet. There had to be some purpose in it all. Electra had to have a motive._ _ _ _

____“But all she did was fight ‘em. There wasn’t even a message or a long plan or anything.” Her boyfriend argued._ _ _ _

____“She just tried to kill them.” Alice finished for him._ _ _ _

____“And failed.” Alfred added._ _ _ _

____“Ja! But it was a pretty kick-ass fight, you wanna see the security footage the bank released? It’s pretty awesome!” Gilbert pulled his phone, but the professor had walked in and asked everyone to take a seat._ _ _ _

____Given Gilbert’s perspective, Alice could barely focus on the lesson._ _ _ _

____& -&-&-&-&_ _ _ _

____“So what movie do you wanna watch?”_ _ _ _

____“Alice?” The Brit suddenly glanced at him._ _ _ _

____“What?”_ _ _ _

____“I asked, what movie do you wanna watch?” Alfred repeated with a frown. “Are you okay?”_ _ _ _

____“Of course, I’m fine.” Alice retorted, crossing her arms on the couch. Alfred was on the floor by the TV ready to switch the settings when they decided what to watch. “We can watch whatever you want, I don’t care.”_ _ _ _

____The American watched for a second before grabbing a DVD off the shelf. “I just got the new Star Wars movie, so if you want..”_ _ _ _

____“Sure. That’s great.” Alice sighed and stood. “I’m going to get a cup of tea, want anything?”_ _ _ _

____There was already a bowl of popcorn on the table waiting for him, so he refused._ _ _ _

____The blond walked into the small kitchen of Alfred’s apartment. His apartment was just a bit larger than hers with an extra bedroom since Maddie used to live here as well. Alice sighed and leaned against the counter, forgetting about why she had even gotten up._ _ _ _

____Usually she was good at keeping Alice and Britannia separate. She could have a lovely night with Alfred and being fighting with Columbia the next night and wouldn’t think twice. But the current situation with Electra was taxing._ _ _ _

____It made sense. Electra had a main purpose, it was just to kill her and Columbia. They hadn’t done that well in the fight last time. Electra could kill her. What would happen if she did? Would the news stories all broadcast her identity to everyone after she died? What would Alfred think?_ _ _ _

____“Alice?” She jumped and saw Alfred walk over. He set the DVD case on the counter behind her. “What’s wrong?”_ _ _ _

____“Nothing.” She scoffed._ _ _ _

____He frowned and took her hands. “You’ve been spacing out all night. What’s wrong?”_ _ _ _

____“It’s really nothing, you shouldn’t trouble yourself.”_ _ _ _

____“Are you worried about all that Electra stuff?” He asked and her heart skipped a beat. He couldn’t know. “Gilbert was right, she’s not targeting normal people like _you _.”___ _ _ _

______Alice let out a breath of relief, he didn’t know. “We don’t know that. We’ve only ever seen her once.” It was easier to play along with this and pretend that this was it. This was easier than the truth._ _ _ _ _ _

______“Nothing’ll happen to you, I promise. I’ll protect you.” He smiled and pressed his forehead against hers._ _ _ _ _ _

______Alice smiled. She wasn’t the one who needed protection. She stood on her toes to kiss him softly._ _ _ _ _ _

______“Now come on,” Alfred continued. “I thought we were gonna have a movie night.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______Alice allowed him to take her hand and lead to her to the couch. They curled together up in a bundle of blankets. For just a little, Alice managed to forget about Electra and Columbia._ _ _ _ _ _


	3. Boom Goes The Buildings You’re Not Watching

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So I think I’ve figure out how this story will work in the future. I really like this AU and have multiple little plot ideas for it, so I’m going to kind of do an arc sort of deal. I’ll write an arc then take a break and when I feel like coming back to this I’ll write another one. 
> 
> Therefore chapters 1-4 are all part of arc 1. I’ve got 5 and part of 6 written and I’m thinking I might finish that soon. I don’t know exactly when the next chapters will come out, if ever, but that’s what I’m thinking. 
> 
> If anyone else has any other ideas, don’t be afraid to share them, pm me! I’ve gotten a good amount of positive feedback for this story, so thank you!
> 
> Disclaimer: I don’t own Hetalia.

“So you’re busy tonight?” Alfred asked as they made their way back to her apartment. It had been a full day of classes Alice didn’t have the patience for.

“Mmhm, I’ve got a paper I need to finish by Friday.” Alice replied. She did have a paper to finish, but it wasn’t what she would be doing tonight. She did hate lying to her boyfriend. Sometimes she just wished she was brave enough to come out and tell him it all. But now wasn’t the time for that. Not when someone like Electra still prowled the streets.

It had been a few days since she had gone out. There usually wasn’t a need to go out every night, sometimes she stayed in with Alfred or caught up on school work. There was just a little reliance on Columbia. He could be out when she couldn’t. 

“Oh yeah, I just remembered I got a report to finish, too. Guess no double movie night.” He nodded. They reached her apartment and paused outside. 

“That’s good, well, it’s not good you’ve got homework, but good that you’re staying in.” The Brit stumbled over her words. “You shouldn’t go out any extra at night with Electra around.” She prayed Alfred would stay safe.

The blond raised an eyebrow but just chuckled. “I told you, you shouldn’t worry about me. I’ll be fine.” He leaned down and kissed her. “Bye, have a nice night.”

“Goodnight. I love you.”

“Love ‘ya, too.” Her heart still skipped when he said those words to her. Alice watched him walk down the street a few feet before going in.

As she changed into her suit, Alice’s eyes lingered on the photographs of her and Alfred. He was home alone now, probably with ten science books all spread around on the floor around him. He was probably clad in those Superman pajamas pants and an old t-shirt. He was probably doing something normal.

As much as Alice wished she was there doing something normal with him, she couldn’t be. She had to fight for the normal moments.

&-&-&-&-&

“She’s targeting us!”

Columbia jumped and glanced behind him at Alice, running up to fall into step with him. Usually, it was him finding her.

“Hey, Brit...”

“I’ve told you not to call me that.” Alice scowled, but returning to the topic. “Electra is targeting us.”

“I know.”

Alice frowned. “What?”

“Yeah, I kinda figured that out. She’s only ever attacked us and people who got in her way. For some reason, she really wants us dead.” The American hero replied.

“So what do we do about it? There’s been no sign of her and it’s been three days.” Alice asked.

Columbia shrugged. “Just fight her, I guess. If she shows again. Maybe we scared her off last time.”

“I doubt it.”

“Yeah, me, too.”

They walked in silence to an unknown destination. Usually when the crime wasn’t obvious they’d just wander around the streets until something showed.

There was an abrupt burst two streets away. An explosion of a building so close by. Alice could nearly feel the heat and the wind whipping. Apartments, it was an apartment building, they realized as they ran into the street of wandering people and burning skin. 

Lightning crashed from the building into the sky and Alice saw the little lights of the city blink out one by one. A city wide power outage, and it was clear the cause. 

With no artificial light anywhere else, the fire of the building was the only source of light. A figure was walking toward her and Columbia. There were children crying and people panicking.

“How nice of you to arrive.” Electra said when she had gotten close enough. The fire formed her silhouette. Despite the dark, her nose was obviously a dark purple color against her light skin.

“What’d you do?” Columbia hissed. “These are innocent people!” 

“No one’s dead yet. I had to have something to catch your attention.” The white woman returned carelessly.

Alice clinched her fist. “They don’t deserve this!” Just another block or two over was Alfred’s apartment. This could be him.“If you’ve got some bloody problem with us, keep the rest of Boston out of it!” She shouted.

“Looks like I’ve touched a nerve, Britannia.” Electra smiled. “We should get get this show on the road, shouldn’t we?” 

Again, lightning rode the concrete to where Alice and Columbia dodged. She had fallen over to a collection of cars, seemingly untouched by Electra’s electricity. The British hero struggled for some great plan that could end Electra quickly before anyone else got hurt, but nothing came.

“This isn’t a game!” Electra shouted after a moment of silence. “You can’t hide!” 

Alice balled her fist and looked up at the sky. It was cloudy tonight, the moon barely visible. 

“You can’t hide from me!” She suddenly shrieked sounding closer than before. 

Alice managed to roll out of the way as one of Electra’s bolts hit the pavement where she had just been sitting. 

The Brit threw a wave of fire. The villain continued to electrocute the flames. They cancelled each other out. No matter how many times Alice illuminated the ground where she stood or the air where she was walking, it didn’t effect her much.

She couldn’t fight this one from a distance. Instead of backing away like she had been, Alice lit her hands and balled a fist. She sprinted forward and punched Electra in the face. 

The villain let a surprised yelp but recovered quickly and electricity bounced between her fingers. She punched Alice’s chest and ducked as Alice meant to hit her again. 

Electra managed to wedge her palm under Alice’s ribs. Before she could call any electricity, Alice gripped her wrist and sparked another blaze. The villain screamed in pain as the fire blazed between them, blistering her skin and heating the air. 

She stumbled away and Alice smirked. “You should give now.” 

“No.” Electra hissed as she clutched her burnt wrist. “I’ll kill you!” She shrieked and tackled Alice in a sudden burst of energy.

They both grunted and screamed as the two rolled on the charred concrete and fought for dominance. Rocks dug into Alice’s back as Electra pinned her. She panted with a crazy expression, clinching Alice’s wrists together. She felt the electricity bounce around her skin. A sharp heat stung at her arms. 

“What’s your problem with us?” Alice shouted.

Electra’s hair tangled in the wind as she gritted her teeth. ”You killed him.”

“Who? Who’d I kill?” She yelled back. The villain was making no sense.

“You killed my brother!” She shifted Alice’s wrists to one hand, raising her hands as sparks bounced between her fingers. “You two killed him and you don’t even know it!” Electra shrieked, going to press the electricity to Alice’s skin.

In a split second, the British hero ignited her skin and the paler woman released her quickly. Alice rolled her over and landed a punch or two to her face. Her blood lingered on Alice’s knuckles. She gripped the collar of Electra’s suit and the blood burned. 

“You’re mad!” Alice shouted back.

Suddenly, she heard a crash and Alice looked up. The part of the building had collapsed, but was levitating above the street. Columbia was no where to be seen, but he had to be somewhere holding up the floating bricks and flames.

She momentarily forgot about Electra until a bolt of lightning threw her into the air and off of her. She landed roughly in the street few feet away. 

Her head buzzed and her body felt heavy. For a minute, Alice couldn’t move anything. The world seemed to have black spots now. Electra was panting and bleeding. Various burns covered her skin and her white suit was spotted with dirt and ash. Alice managed to stumble to her feet after a little longer, finally regaining some feeling in her bones. 

The villain had also stood, stalking up to the British hero. Electra said something, but her words become muddled in Alice’s ears. She punched her stomach and kicked her shin, causing Alice to trip backward. The blond coughed roughly and her hands were scarlet. Everything felt dizzy.

Electra grinned with her bloody teeth and clinched a fist. It collided with Alice’s chest before she even realized it was coming. Instead of a simple blow, it was filled with volts of electricity Alice couldn’t help to stop.

For a quick second she could feel it vibrate through her body, bouncing around her bones. It filled her with such a warmth she hadn’t ever felt before. She was screaming and couldn’t hear anything else. The pain bit at every part of her. All she could process in the thick soup that was her brain was the heat and the pain. 

The world was black and gone and a million miles away before she even hit the ground.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So there’s the most of what you’ll ever learn about Electra. I originally based her off of Belarus, maybe I’ll touch on her more in later arcs, but that’s mostly it. The main idea for her motive was that her brother, Ivan, was killed in some previous battle between Columbia and Britannia and some other villain as collateral damage. It was probably by destruction of the city, like a building collapsed on him or something. 
> 
> The death of her brother kind of set Electra off, making her kind of go insane and therefore she decided to go out as Electra and kill Columbia and Britannia to get revenge for her brother’s death. It didn’t exactly... work out well for her... That’s spoilers for next chapter.
> 
> Thanks for reading, go ahead and leave a review and tell me what you thought, or follow me or this story to get reminded about new chapters. If you have liked this story or just like USxFem!UK, go and check out my other stories! Thank you and I’ll be back next week!


	4. Strangers Aren’t As Strange As You Think

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I don’t own Hetalia.

Alfred’s apartment’s ceiling fan always hummed. The first thing Alice heard was something like that.

The lights were so bright when she opened her eyes, Alice immediately shut them again. She tried to make sense of her location without looking, that was too tiring.

There was the humming and soft chatter of television, but it was so low Alice couldn’t understand the words. She was lying on something soft, resting probably a sofa or couch of some kind.

After a few minutes of lying there, counting the beat of the hum, Alice opened her eyes again. It was easier to keep them open this time, blinking just a few more times. 

Ash had made a home under her fingernails and the blanket draped over her felt so familiar. The room from what she could see was a living room, with a coffee table adorning a stack of textbooks and a cup of discarded coffee. 

The TV as on, a news anchor spoke rapidly in words Alice couldn’t hear. The anchor suddenly disappeared as the screen filled with a dark video, seemingly taken from a phone. The video shook as it followed flames and lightning in the dark. The fire clashed with the electricity, sparking, bursting, both moving with expertise. Nothing else could really be distinguished from the footage other than that.

Alice shifted in the couch moving to sit up. As she moved she finally caught whisper of the television. “Electra is currently engaged in battle with Columbia on...” But Alice stopped hearing.

Columbia. 

Electra.

Britannia.

The memories slipped in again and Alice suddenly became self-conscious.  
She wasn’t lying on the street where she should be after Electra hit her. The Brit was still dressed in her black clothes, although the shirt was in tatters from both her fire and Electra’s lightning. Her mask was missing as were her shoes and the remains of her shirt had been rolled up.

The British hero took another look around the room and its familiarity finally made sense. The fan always hummed in Alfred’s living room. The blanket draped over her was one they always shared on movie nights and smelled like buttered popcorn and late nights. The textbooks’ covers depicted electrons and neutrons and cosmos. Steam drifted up from the coffee cup.

“Alice!” Someone gasped. The blond turned too quickly and her head pounded. Maddie rushed over to her, dressed in a t-shirt and pajama pants with her long gold colored hair all tied up in a bun atop her head. Alice’s own hair had unraveled itself and fell messily down her back. “Are you okay? How do you feel?”

“I can explain.” Alice managed to say. Her health definitely didn’t matter when all her closest friends now knew her biggest secret. Not to mention Alfred. Where was he? Had he left when he found out? Was he already gone?

Madeline pushed up her glasses and took Alice’s wrist, checking her pulse then going about several other things she didn’t know what to call. “I need you to answer some questions for me.” She ignored Alice. “What’s your name?”

“Alice Kirkland.”

“Where were you born?”

“London, England.”

“When’s your birthday?”

“April 23.”

“What’s my brother’s name?”

“Alfred Jones.”

“Doesn’t look like any concussion or head trauma. Do you remember what happened?” Maddie stopped prodding her and sat on the coffee table.

“Where’s Alfred?” Alice decided to give her a taste of her own medicine.

“Out.”

“He knows?”

“Knows what?”

“That I’m Britannia!” Alice exclaimed in frustration. Her head still hurt and she wasn’t sure she’d be able to walk if she had to, but she needed answers. Maddie wasn’t even registering it.

The younger looked surprised before smiling with a little sigh. “Yeah, he knows that.”

“Why’d he leave?”

“He’ll be back soon, don’t worry.”

Alice scowled and glanced at the screen behind Maddie. “How did I get here? I just remember Electra and...” She trailed off as Madeline reached behind the books and grabbing her phone.

“It was crazy.” Maddie just said before offering her phone to Alice. A video waited to be played on the screen. 

The British hero pressed play. The quality wasn’t great, but better than the video the news had been showing earlier. Alice could made out herself in her black clothes, thrown backwards as Electra recovered momentarily in white. She watched herself climb to her feet like a drunken person and stumble as Electra easily hit her. She could fuzzily remember these last few minutes of terribly fighting back.

The villain dressed in white hit Alice’s chest with a bolt of electricity, which she vaguely remembered too. She remembered it hurt. What happened next, Alice didn’t recall. 

Her hands went to grip Electra’s and the two burst into flames. The city lights flickered rapidly around them, finally awakening from their blackout. It was a solid few seconds before the fire ceased. Alice collapsed in the video, hitting the ground roughly. Electra stumbled frantically and fell away from Alice. 

Her skin was terribly blistered and burnt and her silky hair was reduced to brittle strands. She wore wide eyes and a terrified expression, still scrambling away from Alice. Columbia ran into the shot and to where Alice had fallen. A bolt of lightning stretched toward the sky as the video ended, carrying Electra away. Alice held the phone a second longer, watching the frozen black screen. 

“I think your powers must have saved you somehow, counteracting the current as it touched you. The shock of it or maybe using that much of your abilities at one time must have cause you to pass out. From there Columbia found you, carried you here, called me to check you out, and then left to find Electra and finish her. You clearly freaked her out and weakened her and he was going to take the advantage to get rid of her.” Maddie explained, slowly taking back her phone and setting it aside.

“Columbia knows you?”

Maddie smiled softly. “Trust me, it’ll make more sense when he’s back.”

Alice frowned. “That’s not like him.”

“Like him?”

“To just go finish off Electra. He’s too- nice.” 

She laughed and Alice cracked a smile too, but laughter would hurt too much. “Well, you’re really important to him. After she hurt you, it became more real I guess.” 

Alice wasn’t sure why she was so important to him. At the most, they were friends. Friends who fought crime and didn’t know each other’s names and faces. 

“We thought you were dead.” Madeline breathed, cutting off Alice’s train of thought.

“What?” Alice asked, wishing she had said something else. 

The blond shook her head. “You should rest. Don’t stress your body or anything, you’re still recovering. When he gets back I’m sure you’ll want to be awake and aware. I’m going to go call Gilbert and give him some excuse as to why I’m out at two am.” She left before Alice could say anything else. 

Without anything more to do, but a million questions still lingering, she laid back down and stared at the ceiling and the humming fan, trying to fit the pieces together.

&-&-&-&-&

The door opened and shut quickly, breaking the silence of Alfred’s apartment. It pulled Alice out of a doze who had yet to move from the couch. Maddie had come to check on her a few times, but answered little to none of her questions. It was about four in the morning now, the TV had been turned off along with the lights and she was told to sleep a while ago.

Alice didn’t. How could she, with so much still up in the air. Was Columbia okay? How did he know Madeline? Where was Alfred?

That last one was the most important. She didn’t give a damn about Columbia if Alfred wasn’t okay.

Alice sat up at the noise and certainly didn’t expect who she saw. 

Alfred. 

Wearing Columbia’s suit. 

Alfred was wearing Columbia’s suit, a pair of old goggles hanging in his hands and then it all made sense finally. The holds that felt so similar, the laugh, the smile, the voice, it was all so Alfred. She felt stupid now, not even able to tell her boyfriend all dressed up. 

Their eyes met in the dark. He looked momentarily shocked, grime and sweat clinging to his skin after whatever fight he had just finished with Electra. Clearly he had won.

“Alice.”

“Alfred?” 

Without any answer, he rushed to the couch where she sat and engulfed her in a hug, burying his face in her shoulder and holding her her with a shaky breath. “You’re okay.” 

Alice eventually returned the hug fully, still highly confused. “I’m fine.”

She heard a sniff from him and she ran her fingers through his messy hair. “I thought you died. You- I shouldn’t have let you deal with her alone. I should’ve been paying attention I could’ve stopped I-“

“Alfred.” Alice hissed. “You didn’t do anything. It’s not your fault.”

“That’s the problem.” The American pulled away from her, but their faces still inches apart. Sure enough, those gorgeous blue eyes had tears, every once in a while one would escape. He brushed her messy hair back. “I’m supposed to protect you.”

She took his face in her hands and pulled him closer, tasting the salty tears as she kissed him. A second later she said. “I don’t need protecting, idiot, I’m a superhero.”

They both dissolved into late night laughs and they fell into each other’s arms finally. They were covered in dirt and ash and tears and it was four in the morning and she almost died and the fan still hummed in the dark but it didn’t matter. The sighs of relief and the tight holds and the soft kisses, those mattered.


End file.
